It wasn’t all that long ago that Ed Hervey had a player’s perspective of draft day.

And it’s an experience that is serving him well as he heads into his first CFL draft as the Edmonton Eskimos general manager Monday.

“I ran track for three years and played football my entire life,” said the University of Southern California product, who played eight seasons with the Eskimos in an all-star career.

But before he got to the CFL, Hervey was drafted in Round 5, 166th overall, by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1995 NFL draft.

“I’ve gone through every process, from being recruited by S.C. and UCLA and all that, to going to the NFL combine and going through all that,” said Hervey, who retired after the 2006 season and celebrated his 40th birthday over the weekend. “You tend to see the process and how it works.